The woman was silent, her eyes on the floor. Shimamura had come to a point where he knew he was only parading his masculine shamelessness, and yet it seemed likely enough that the woman was familiar with the failing and need not be shocked by it. He looked at her. Perhaps it was the rich lashes of the downcast eyes that made her face seem warm and sensuous. She shook her head very slightly, and again a faint blush spread over her face.

A child walked by, rolling a metal hoop that made a sound of autumn.

Because you cannot see him, God is everywhere.

Along the coast the sea roars, and inland the mountains roar – the roaring at the center, like a distant clap of thunder.

They were words that came out of nothing, but they seemed to him somehow significant. He muttered them over again.

The snow on the distant mountains was soft and creamy, as if veiled in a faint smoke.

The labor into which a heart has poured its whole love--where will it have its say, to excite and inspire, and when?